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Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirteen. An act.—To establish a Literary Institution in the District of Maine, within this Commonwealth.—

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that there be erected and established in the District of Maine in the Township hereafter mentioned a Literary Institution, for the purpose of educating youth to be called and known by the name of the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, to be under the government and regulation of a body politic, as in this Act is hereafter described.

Sect. 2—[And] be it further enacted, That Daniel Merrill, Caleb Blood, Sylvanus Boardman, Thomas Green, Robert Low, Benjamin Titcomb, Thomas Francis, Ransom Norton, Daniel McMaster, Hon. James Campbell, Samuel Stinson, John Hovey, David Nelson, Alford Richardson, John Haynes, Samuel Baker, Joseph Bailey, Phinehas Pilsbury, Hezekiah Prince, Moses Dennett, and John Neal, together with the President, (A) Treasurer (B) and Fellows of the said Institution, for the time being, to be chosen, as in this Act, is hereafter directed, be and hereby are erected a body politic and corporate by the name of the President, (C) Fellows and Trustees of the Maine Literary and Theological Institution. And that they and their successors, and such others as shall be duly elected members of said Corporation, shall be and remain a body politic and corporate by that name forever.

Sect. 3—(D) [And] be it further enacted, That the Trustees aforesaid be hereby empowered to elect nine persons of education to be Fellows of the said Institution, and who shall be stiled the Learned Faculty, whose duty it shall he to determine the qualifications of all Candidates for degrees, which shall be given only by their authority.

Sect. 4—[And] be it further enacted, That for the more orderly conducting the business of the said Corporation, the President, (E) and Fellows and Trustees shall have full power and authority, from time to time, as they shall determine, to elect a Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary of said Corporation, and to declare the tenure and duties of their respective offices, and also to remove any Trustee, (F) or Fellow from the said Corporation, when in their judgment, he shall be rendered incapable, by age or otherwise, of discharging the duties of his office, and to fill up all vacancies in the said Corporation, by electing such persons for (G) Fellows or Trustees as they shall judge best. Provided nevertheless That the number of the said Corporation, including the President of the said Institution, and the Treasurer for the time being, shall never be greater, than Thirty one, nor less than twenty one.

Sect. 5—And be it further enacted, That the said Corporation may have one common seal, which they may change, break, or renew at their pleasure; and that all deeds, signed and delivered by the Treasurer, and sealed with their seal by the order of the Corporation, shall when made in their Corporate name, be considered in Law as the deed of the said Corporation.—And that the said Corporation may sue and be sued, in all actions, real, personal and mixed, and may prosecute and defend the same, to final Judgment and execution, by the name of the President, and Corporation, of the Maine Literary & Theological Institution.—And that the said Corporation shall be capable of having, holding, and taking in fee simple, or any less estate, by gift, grant, devise, or otherwise, any lands, tenements, or other estate, real or personal. Provided nevertheless. That the annual clear income of the same shall not exceed sum of thirty thousand dollars.